Faculty News

Mike Egan and Randy Hengst shared insights from their Longfellow Kindergarten Number Sense Project at the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education's E-learn conference in Vancouver. Specifically, Mike and Randy shared software developed for the project and video of preschool and kindergarten children engaging with the software. They received front-page attention in the 10-26-09 Dispatch-Argushttp://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.pho?id=463964&query=augustana

Cathy Goebel was the invited first plenary co-speaker for the national conference of the Association for General and Liberal Studies. Her co-presenter was physics professor and science historian, Pangratios Papacosta. The theme of the conference was Building Bridges: Tools for Pedagogy, Assessment, and Leadership. Their presentation complemented the topic as reflected in the title: Bridging the Cultures: Humanities, Science and Art. The second plenary speakers were Jerry Gaff, Senior Scholar at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and Meg Mulrooney, Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of University Studies at James Madison University. The third plenary speaker was Lynn Priddy, Vice President of Accreditation Services for the Higher Learning Commission of NCA.

Cathy's presentation focused on Augustana's Liberal Arts through the AGES project and book, which she has directed for six years through four editions, framed by her thesis of Art History as Liberal Arts Bridge. The audience consisted of first-year, honors, and liberal studies deans and faculty from across the country. Her talk is posted on MOODLE under LS. She has subsequently been invited to present the project at two additional national conferences in spring. This unprecedented interdisciplinary faculty/student collaborative project centers the pedagogical art history collection and art museum within the first-year curriculum. Cathy is also scheduled to present a related paper in February at the College Art Association conference. She is grateful to Augustana faculty, administration, and students, and particularly her colleagues in the Art History Department and Art Museum, who have contributed to the success of Liberal Arts through the AGES-a truly distinctive Augustana community achievement.

Steve Hager andthe Augustana Darwin Club just published an online Campus Sustainability Case Study at the Campus Ecology section of the National Wildlife Federation. The title of the paper was Bird Mortality at Windows and reports the results of a multiyear project that assessed the magnitude of bird mortality by window strikes at Augustana and Principia Colleges. It is one of dozens of sustainability projects reported by universities across the country. All studies included the following information: "A brief description of the project: its current status, costs, known or anticipated savings of money, energy, GHG emissions or other resources. What did you hope to achieve when you started your project? What, if any, policies were adopted in conjunction with this project? In what ways did your project positively impact wildlife and the natural environment on or beyond the campus? Describe the organization, committees or classes that were instrumental in the success of this project." The Darwin Club is currently assessing the flora at Augustana and is planning to submit the results of this work for the 2010 Campus Sustainability Case Study.

Brian Katz (Mathematics): "I find it fascinating to talk to other faculty about their teaching, but I am always left with the lingering suspicion that we have not entirely understood each other. And in my experience, the only way to really understand another person's thinking is to create something with them. So the best way for me to learn from a colleague is to create a learning environment collaboratively by team-teaching. In order to bring this experience with me to Augustana, I have applied for and received a grant from the Educational Advancement Foundation that will allow me to team-teach and redesign Modern Geometry with Stacey Rodman. The EAF is especially interested in helping departments develop inquiry-based courses. I am excited about this project and especially excited about my department's commitment to making inquiry a structural part of the major."

Jim van Howe (physics) and Greg Domski (chemistry) attended the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Chicago from November 6-8) along with three student researchers. Kyle Weigand (Physics '11) gave an oral presentation detailing the results of research conducted with Jim van Howe entitled 'Picosecond Pulse Fiber-Laser Using a Semiconductor Saturable Absorber Mirror'. Wiktoria Pecak (Chemistry '11) and Sam Alvarado (Chemistry '10) each presented a poster on the research that they are performing in collaboration with Greg Domski. The title of Wikky's poster was 'A Ligand is Born: Synthesis of a Novel Bis (N-Heterocyclic carbene) diphenolate Ligand", the title of Sam's poster was 'Synthesis of Chelating Phosphine-Functionalized N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ruthenium Complexes'.